Wheel astd dress guard for carriages



W. R. BUSH.

Carriage Fender.

No. 27.427. Patented Mar.- 13, 1860.

5 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

\VALTER It. BUSH, OF ALBANY, NEW YORK.

WHEEL AND DRESS GUARD FOR CARRIAG-ES.

Specification of Letters Patent No. 27,427, dated March 13, 1860.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, TALTER R. BUSH, of the city of Albany, State of New York, have invented a new and useful Defense to Protect the Dresses of Ladies Entering into or Coming out of Carriages from the dirt adhering to the wheels, which I call Bushs self-adjusting carriage dress-guard; and I declare the following specification, with the drawings attached hereto, as part of the same, to be a full and perfect description thereof.

Figure 1 represents the body of a carriage (chariot) with the door standing open, and the guard appearing in its place between the step and the hind wheel; also with the apparatus connected with the movements of the guard, as they are attached to the inside of the door, the lining covering being removed to show them. Fig. 2 is a front elevation of the door panel with the mechanism attached, their covering plates shown as removed to exhibit their plan and arrangement.

Similar letters in both figures denote the same parts of the apparatus.

A is the panel of a carriage door, hung to open from the front to the rear, consequently when open standing between the doorway and the hind wheel. The panel contains within it the usual space for the reception of the glass window and frame, protected in the inside by a thin cover of wood. Upon this cover, so that when the door is open, in the position shown in Fig. 1, it may stand opposite the edge of the wheel, an oblong piece of thin metal G is fitted within guide strips so that it can slide up and down freely. hen in its highest position its bottom edge is on a line with the lowest edge of the door, and it extends high enough up, (that is, it is to be long enough,) to give it a steady bearing whenever its lower part protrudes from the door as shown in the drawing. In width it is to be about 6 to 8 inches; that is, sulficiently wide to prevent the waving of a ladys dress from carrying it around the guard to the wheel. It may be finished handsomely with a cover of patent leather.

The machinery to operate it is this: Above the guard, between it and the window, a thin wheel or pulley P is placed so that a cord or small chain 5 passing over and around its periphery will drop down to the center of the top of G and be there attached to it; the revolution of P raising and lowering Gr. Upon P or as part of it is placed a pulley S of less diameter and concentric with it, and turning upon the same fixed pivot B. This pulley is hollow and contains within it a helix spring, as shown, one end of which is fixed to pivot B, the other to the inner edge of the pulley and the coil of the spring arranged so as to raise and hold G by its tension, and therefore in order to lower Gr down for service some device becomes necessary to relax the spring. To do this a small cord r is passed over the circumference of S and is then carried over a friction pulley F fixed on the back edge of the door; thence to the door jamb H to which its end is fastened. It is manifest that by this arrangement, as soon as the door begins to move outward, as the edge of the door frame separates from the janib, the cord 9* will draw upon the pulley S relaxing its spring, and permitting the guard to descend so long as the door moves outward, and thus when the door is fully opened as shown in Fig. 1 it places a complete barrier between the dress of any one standing on the step of the coach and the wheel.

The closing of the door restores the action of the spring which draws the guard up within its recess. The proper adjustment of the distance for the descent of G is made by the due proportioning of the pulley S to the pulley P. As these pulleys are nothing more than an economical arrangement of lever power it will be seen that the mechanical detail might be efiected by levers operated by any sort of spring. I shall therefore claim the method of using the one for the other whenever it may be desirable.

The present mode of protecting the dress from the dirt of the wheels, is the well known permanent strip of metal and leather attached to the body of a coach and curving over one third of the wheels periphery. It is enough to say of that guard that it is from its permanent exposure a collector of dirt as much to be guarded against as the wheel itself, to say nothing of its unsightly and clumsy appearance which puts out of the question its application to any handsome carriage. My invention removes these difficulties; protects as effectively as the permanent guard; is not exposed itself to dirt and does not disfigure the carriage. Besides these qualities, it has other recommendations to the maker or owner of carriages. It occupies no obtrusive space, can be attached to almost any kind of carriage door by means of a pulley containing a helix spring to raise the guard and maintain it in place: the spring being relaxed by an attachment from the pulleys to the body of the carriage, or by such lever and spring arrangements as are a mechanical equivalent for the same, substantially as set forth in the above specification.

WALTER R. BUSH.

Witnesses:

A. V. DE Wrr'r, RICH VARIoK DE Win. 

